About Me

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Quality, Value, Convenience

I am the first person to laugh at QVC. There are plenty of cheesy, tacky, remarkably ugly things on there. So much polyester and velour. Cubic zirconium galore. Parades of “miraculous” skincare products. And the phone calls! Odd little old ladies (and if they’re not old, they sure sound it) calling from all over the country, crazily excited to talk with their favorite hosts. They sound lonely. I wonder how much money they’re spending shopping on TV.

On the other hand, I watch it quite a lot. It’s perfect background noise for knitting or cooking because it does not require you to look at the screen. And there is a certain fun in watching all these clothes and jewelry march by, asking you to buy. It’s the browsing fun of shopping without having to go out. And, mock me now: I totally think it’s better than HSN, which shows you how far drawn into this I am, that I even have an opinion about this.

Nevertheless, I don’t buy a lot. It’s pretty stuff, often at decent prices. But….how much jewelry does one need? I don’t like polyester, I don’t wear track suits, so I never buy clothes. I’m not going to buy shoes without trying them on. And skincare/makeup? I have more products unused in my bathroom than I could possibly need.

Is that enough caveats? Can I reveal the real topic of this blog entry without sacrificing my street cred now?

Here it is:

This was the Today’s Special Value one day last week. It’s 18K gold plated, shaped like a ginkgo leaf. I’m very fond of ginkgo leaves, and had been toying with the idea of incorporating them into my wedding, perhaps in the jewelry, but I hadn’t seen anything that really spoke to me. But when I saw this, I knew it was worth a shot. Besides, even if it didn’t work the wedding, it’s a piece of jewelry I love, and will wear a lot in my everyday life. It’s not red rhinestones, but it looks pretty nice with those earrings, dontcha think?

Here it is on a cheap multi-strand beaded necklace, which I like somewhat better than the gold satin cord it came with.

I think that I might experiment with some red ribbon, too. I’m not definitely going to use this, but it’s a pretty strong contender!